Supporting Teachers, Tackling Indiscipline

General principles

The EIS strongly supports the fundamental principle that teachers have the right to teach and young people have the right to learn in a safe and disciplined environment.

The EIS calls on the Scottish Executive and local authorities to ensure sufficient funding for:

• additional support wherever this is needed
• additional staffing for in-school behaviour bases and units
• the provision of additional offsite behaviour facilities
• a reduction in class sizes in all sectors to support better behaviour and improved discipline in the classroom
• the development of enhanced provision of better behaviour/discipline strategies as part of initial teacher education
• the provision of local authority support, in matters relating to better behaviour/discipline strategies, for teachers in their induction year
• the provision of appropriate CPD relating to better behaviour/discipline strategies for teachers throughout their careers.

There is a growing recognition that the policy of inclusion is not working for many pupils who exhibit violent behaviour. Currently, however, there is a lack of suitable alternative provision. Therefore, the EIS will continue to call on both the Scottish Parliament and Local Authorities to put in place a range of provisions for pupils exhibiting violent behaviour.

The EIS will continue to call on the Scottish Executive and all local authorities to re-affirm the right of Head Teachers to use exclusion where appropriate.

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